Sheriff’s office investigator Marene Jones said phone records indicate McMillian and Reed knew each other before the aspiring politician’s nude, battered body was found Feb. 27 near a Mississippi River levee.

Jones said Reed told investigators that McMillian invited him to a party before driving him on a back road, stopping his vehicle and watching pornography on his phone.

Reed allegedly strangled McMillian before dumping his body on the levee, dousing it with gasoline and setting it on fire.